are some churches (such as the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone) and some dioceses (such as Sydney) in which women may be ordained deacons but not priests or bishops. Lay ministers Licensed lay ministers Certain laypeople may receive specific commission or authorisation from a bishop (often on recommendation of a parish or its clergy) to perform certain aspects of ministry. The rationale for licensing is that the ministry is considered too specialised or otherwise extraordinary to be carried out in the absence of individual evaluation and recommendation. There is variation across jurisdictions, but there are four common areas. Deaconesses Although derived from the same name as deacons, deaconesses have often been considered lay ministers in the church (probably at least from the time of the First Council of Nicaea, which agreed with this view). Deaconesses disappeared completely from the Western Church by the eleventh century. In 1836, Theodor and Friederike Fliedner founded the first deaconess house in Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. In 1862, the Bishop of London, Archibald Campbell Tait, restored the "ancient order of deaconesses" with Elizabeth Ferard by the laying on of hands. Women were ordained deaconesses by the Bishop of Alabama (in 1885) and the Bishop of New York (1887), and gradually, more dioceses began to make deaconesses, but there was no clear consensus: some intended that deaconesses be in holy orders, and others did not. In churches that now ordain women, the order of deaconess has largely died out. Readers Licensed Lay Readers, whose prominence varies widely among dioceses and national churches, are licensed by their bishop. They are authorised to lead worship services, apart from the celebration of the Eucharist. Their responsibilities and privileges can include: Conducting Mattins, Evensong, and Compline Reciting the Litany Publishing banns of marriage Preaching, teaching, and assisting in pastoral care Conducting funerals Distributing (but not celebrating) Holy Communion Lay administrators Licensed lay administrators may be authorised by a bishop to assist in the distribution of Holy Communion. Normally the parish priest submits to the bishop at regular intervals a list of names of persons to be so licensed. In some dioceses or parishes, lay administration is limited to the chalice, and lay administrators may also be permitted to take the consecrated elements from the church to the sick or shut-in to be administered there. Catechists In many parts of the Anglican Communion, day to day parish ministry is carried